Table of Contents

Code of Conduct

Last updated June 6, 2020.

The Double Union (DU) community is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

This code of conduct applies to all Double Union sponsored spaces, including our blog, mailing lists, and chat, as well as any other spaces that Double Union hosts, both online and off. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the Double Union Code of Conduct Committee (CoC Committee).

Some Double Union-sponsored spaces may have additional rules in place, which will be made clearly available to participants. Participants are responsible for knowing and abiding by these rules.

Report a problem or concern

Definitions

Harassment includes:

  • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, or religion
  • Sustained disruption of discussion
  • Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.
  • Deliberate misgendering or use of ‘dead’ or rejected names
  • Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behaviour in spaces where they’re not appropriate
  • Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others
  • Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease
  • Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity or history of trauma without their consent, except as necessary to protect other DU members or other vulnerable people from intentional abuse
  • Publication of non-harassing private communication
  • Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes
  • Unwelcome sexual attention
  • Physical contact and simulated physical contact (for example, textual descriptions like “hug” or “backrub”) without consent or after a request to stop
  • Threats of violence
  • Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm
  • Deliberate intimidation
  • Stalking or following

The Double Union community prioritizes marginalized people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. The Double Union Code of Conduct Committee will not act on complaints regarding:

  • “Reverse” -isms, including “reverse racism,” “reverse sexism,” and “cisphobia” (because these things don’t exist)
  • Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you.”
  • Refusal to explain or debate social justice concepts
  • Communicating in a “tone” you don’t find positive enough
  • Criticizing racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions

Reporting

If you are being harassed by a member of the Double Union community, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please submit a report here. You may also submit a report or concern by emailing conduct@doubleunion.org. You may report harassment anonymously, or you can choose to include your contact information if you would like the Code of Conduct Committee to follow up with you for further investigation or to communicate actions that have been taken.

Reports will be handled by the Double Union Code of Conduct Committee, which is currently Amy Bickerton, Jean Costello, Laurel (Kona) Goodhart, and Eris Koleszar. If the person who is harassing you is on the CoC Committee, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident. In this situation, you may also reach out to an individual CoC Committee member instead of submitting a report on the form, or have a friend submit your report. Otherwise, please do not reach out to private email addresses or social media accounts for reporting harassment.

If you contact the committee with a concern or report, we collectively commit to acknowledging your report within 24 hours. If you contact an individual member of the committee, we cannot commit that specific individual to a specific response time, but they will make their best effort to respond as quickly as possible. By default, we commit to making a decision about your report within 10 business days. Depending on the situation, we may commit (clearly) to a different timeline for a decision. We reserve the right to reject any report we believe to have been made in bad faith.

Scope

This code of conduct applies to Double Union sponsored spaces, but if you are being harassed by a member of the DU community outside our spaces, we still want to know about it. We will take all good-faith reports of harassment by Double Union community members seriously. This includes harassment outside our spaces and harassment that took place at any point in time. The Code of Conduct Committee reserves the right to exclude people from the DU community based on their past behavior, including behavior outside DU spaces and behavior towards people who are not in the DU community.

Goals

The primary goal of Double Union’s Code of Conduct enforcement is to protect Double Union (and its members and other participants) from harm.

There is other work that we do to support our primary goal—for example, showing folks what acceptable behavior looks like, educating individuals as to why their conduct was harmful, and serving as an instantiation of our feminist values—but our first priority is to protect our community, especially members who have been the target of a Code of Conduct violation.

This model means that there are some things the Code of Conduct Committee doesn’t do. We do not facilitate apologies, provide mediation of disputes, coach harassers on how to be better, or pass messages between harassers and targets. We may choose an action that is not exactly the target’s desired response, based on our scope, goal of protecting the community, and understanding of the situation.

Confidentiality

We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting targets of abuse. At our discretion, we may publicly name a person about whom we’ve received harassment complaints, or privately warn third parties about them, if we believe that doing so will increase the safety of DU members or the general public. We will not name harassment targets without their affirmative consent.

Consequences

If a participant engages in harassing behavior or other behavior that violates the Code of Conduct, the CoC Committee may take any action we deem appropriate. Enforcement of the Code of Conduct does not by itself violate of the Code of Conduct.

Example actions and consequences may include:

  • A notice to the members mailing list
  • A personal email warning a person that their behavior was unacceptable
  • Removal of membership
  • A permanent ban from the space
  • Involving the DU Board if there is a legal risk to DU or legal action necessary
  • Identification of a participant as a harasser to other DU members or the general public

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

COVID-19 Policy

Last updated December 2, 2022.

As members contributing to this policy, we are excited about re-opening our shared space, and we want to make sure we keep ourselves and fellow members as healthy and safe as possible. We will need to update this policy according to government and health expert recommendations and industry standards; this will be a living document.

Since this is a policy with a goal of preventing harm to members, it is part of the scope of the Code of Conduct Committee. If you have concerns about a member not following the requirements (especially even after reminders), you can contact the Code of Conduct Committee to make a report, and they will help with addressing it.

After this policy is reviewed by the membership and approved by the board, the future update process will be:

  • Any member can make a suggestion in “suggest” mode
  • Other members can comment on the suggestion
  • The board will review and incorporate suggestions, in consultation with the CoCC
  • For any major changes (not just phrasing, typos, etc), the board or CoCC will email a note to the members mailing list

Requirements

  • If you’re not alone in the space (if two or more people are in the space), wear a mask (see CDC guidelines and also see Recommendations below).
    • You can remove your mask briefly when eating or drinking.
  • To support individual contact tracing: when you enter the space, fill out the Google Form visitor log with your name, email address and/or phone number, and the day and time you were in the space.
    • If you bring guests, ask them to fill out this form as well.
  • Be fully vaccinated according to CDC guidelines. By entering, you self-attest that you are fully vaccinated.
    • If you need to discuss a potential medical exception or anything else related to this, email the board (board@doubleunion.org); we’ll review on a case-by-case basis.
  • Review the City of San Francisco risk self-screening questions and only come to the space if your answers are all “no”.
  • Members may bring one guest if you ensure they also comply with these requirements (you may bring children you care for even if they are not yet eligible for vaccination).
    • Members may also reserve DU for a few hours for you and your guests, if you want to bring more than one guest for a small event, such as working on a project with your friends. Send a note to the members mailing list at least 2 days ahead of time and mark it on the DU shared calendar.
  • If you become ill with COVID symptoms after being in the space, notify the CoCC immediately (conduct@doubleunion.org) (this is not a CoC violation, they’re just the people who handle mitigations).
    • If a person reports to the CoCC that they may have been infectious while in the space, the CoCC will send an announcement to the members mailing list (saying that there was potential exposure on a day and time, without any names).
    • The CoCC will also send the same day-and-time exposure information individually to people who had filled out the optional contact tracing log (see Recommendations) who were in the space at approximately the same time as the infectious person.
    • If possible, get a COVID test and share the results with the CoCC as soon as you have them.

Recommendations

  • When sharing the space with other members, increase ventilation as much as you can.
    • When possible, keep the door open while multiple people are inside
    • Set the air purifiers to 2 or higher (turn to “eco” mode if you’re the last person to leave)
    • As a proxy measurement of sufficient ventilation, the CO2 monitor should display lower than 800 ppm (see CDC recommendations)
  • You’re encouraged to wear a N95, KF94, or KN95 mask since they are widely available now, and they protect you better than cloth masks. Another good option is layering a disposable surgical mask under a cloth mask.
  • No more than five people in the space.

  • When you plan to be at DU, create an event on the shared DU calendar to note the times/days, and note if you’re bringing a guest. This helps other people see whether the space may be quiet or busy, so they can determine whether they would like to go in. Example:

    Screenshot showing a Google calendar event blocking out a period of time

  • Practice social distancing as best as possible while sharing the space.
  • Even though surface transmission is less likely than airborne transmission, it’s still helpful to reduce it.
  • Wash your hands regularly while in the space
  • If you use any shared dishes or utensils, wash them thoroughly with dish soap, dry with paper towels, and put them back on the shelf or in the drawer (don’t leave them in the sink)
  • Before you leave the space, wipe down surfaces you used (wipes are by the door)

Appendix: self-screening questions from City of SF

  1. Do you currently have or have you in the past 24 hours had any one of the following symptoms which is new or not explained by another reason: fever at or above 100.4°F (38°C), chills, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, sore throat, unusual weakness or fatigue, loss of smell or taste, muscle aches, headache, runny nose different from your allergies, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea?

  2. Have you had a COVID-19 “close contact” that would require you to quarantine? To help you answer this question:

    • A “close contact” with a person confirmed to have COVID-19 includes persons in your home, sex partners including only kissing, or people who you take care of or who take care of you. It also includes people who were within 6 feet of you for more than 15 minutes total in a 24-hour period, whether or not they were wearing a face covering, or with whom you had contact with their body fluids or secretions.
    • If it is at least 14 days after you have received your final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, you do not need to quarantine after a “close contact” unless you work in a congregate or jail setting.

  3. Within the past 10 days, have you been diagnosed or tested positive for COVID-19?

Confidentiality Policy

Last updated September 2018.

Double Union tries to be a place where members feel safe, and so it is important to us to foster a culture of consent and respect for the privacy and comfort of other members and of DU. This may be different than the social norms you are used to outside of Double Union, and it’s part of what is special about the space and our community.

Because of that, here are guidelines for members about situations where you should ask before sharing information, and information that should always be kept confidential. When in doubt, ask first!

You should ask individual members before sharing:

  • Content from Double Union members-only mailing lists, Slack chats, and Google Drive documents (unless it’s explicitly public, like information about public events)
  • Discussions within members-only meetings
  • Member contact info

Please also ask permission before taking photos of people, and ask permission before sharing them. Examples:

  • “May I take a photo of you working on your project and post it on the Double Union Twitter and Instagram?”
  • “I would like to take a group photo of our event to post on my Facebook page. It’s totally ok to not be in the photo. Can everyone who is not interested in being in this photo move to the kitchen for a moment so that I don’t accidentally get you in the photo?”

These things must always be kept confidential:

  • Double Union authentication credentials (passwords)
  • Door codes and keys
  • Voting members emails, meetings, and shared documents
  • Prospective member applications
  • Member comments on prospective member applications
  • Board emails, meetings, and shared documents
  • Other content in the Double Union internal web application or other platforms that DU uses (e.g. Stripe, LastPass).
  • Information about membership status or dues
  • Internal materials of the Code of Conduct Committee
  • Situations where confidentiality is explicitly requested

For other meetings and events, if you want the content to be kept confidential, please let everyone know at the beginning of your event or in the event description.

If you feel that DU confidentiality has been broken, please report it to the Code of Conduct Committee using this form. You may also submit a report or concern by emailing conduct@doubleunion.org. You may report anonymously, or you can choose to include your contact information if you would like the Code of Conduct Committee to follow up with you for further investigation or to communicate actions that have been taken.

License

Thiese policies are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero license. It is public domain; neither credit nor open licensing of your version is required.